Members of the Sandalwood High School Singing Saints perform during Friday morning’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast at the Prime Osborn Convention Center.

When the parents of journalist Soledad O’Brien married in 1958, their interracial union was illegal in 17 states, including Maryland, where they attended Johns Hopkins University.

Her father was a white Australian, her mother was a black Cuban. On their first date, no Baltimore restaurant would let them in together. Not until 1967, after their sixth child was born, did the Supreme Court legalize interracial marriage.

“Today my family represents the face of America. We’re multinational,” she said. “They moved on with life and the rest of the world caught up with them.”

O’Brien, keynote speaker Friday at Jacksonville’s 27th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast, grew up to become an award-winning journalist as the host of “Black in America” and “Latino in America,” a series of CNN documentaries about issues of race, class, wealth, poverty and opportunity.

She said she remembered her parents telling stories about the life they lived in Baltimore and later on Long Island.

“People used to spit on us,” she said her mother told her.

But they had hope that progress was on the horizon.

“We knew America was better than that,” her mother told her.

And it is, she said, but the “true equality” envisioned by civil rights leader King remains on the horizon.

Race relations have improved, but are a work in progress. And there are still other barriers to true equal opportunity, such as poverty, O’Brien said, and they must be ongoing topics of discussion until they are no longer blocking people’s path to success.

“There has been huge progress, but we must succeed on these other fronts,” she said. “Seeing everyone as equal. Only when we truly get there will we be doing justice to Dr. King.”

O’Brien has also done documentary work about King and studied some of his papers, including first drafts of his speeches. During that study she learned about King, the man.

“He was a regular man who decided he could do great things,” she said. “He decided the time was right to lead. He decided to use his voice to take a stand. Leadership is about taking a stand.”

O’Brien has quietly taken her own stand. She and her husband have established the Soledad O’Brien &Brad Raymond Starfish Foundation, which has helped 28 underprivileged girls go to college. The foundation also holds summits for girls.

She said she had multiple speaking opportunities for King Day events across the country. She chose Jacksonville, she said, because the event was described to her as “a huge celebration” and featured a youth essay competition. At the breakfast, the three top student winners read to the crowd their essays about the legacies they hope to leave.

“Our student speakers are our great hope for the future,” she said. “What made this so incredible is that the city really puts its money where its mouth is and is having a real conversation.”

The city’s youth are the key, said Mayor Alvin Brown, who announced a new youth initiative at the breakfast.

“The children are Dr. King’s dream. They are living his legacy,” he said. “One of our responsibilities is to instill hope in our children.”

Soledad O'Brien was a poor selection for the breakfast. CNN eventually dumped her for poor ratings and "race hustler" type commentary on her morning show. Her audience was tiny and primarily black, evidencing her inability to attract a racial broad base. If Mayor Brown selected this person, his judgement failed him. Based on this article, O'Brien's speech did not address the single parent birth rate and crime pervasive in the black population. Brown should have selected Dr. Ben Carson, a black doctor who believes in personal responsibility for his race, not self-victimization. Taxpayers have had enough of what O'Brien represents.